The Marauders: Year Two | #Wattys2016

Loads of Chocolate Frogs

James stared at it a second and then looked up at Sirius's face. "Oh blimey, you are mental."

Meanwhile, Peter had made his way to the Statue of Gunhilda of Gorsemoor on the third floor and was standing before her, clutching his chocolate frog card uncertainly. Now that he was here, he wasn't sure what to do. He wished James and Sirius had been in the dorm to come along with him - but they were probably off having their own adventures without him. The thought of it made him feel determined all over again and he cleared his throat and stared up at the witch's one eye.

"Hullo... Miss - um - Gunhilda?" he tried, leaning so that he was staring up at the stone eyes. "Can you - er - hear me?" Nothing happened. He swallowed and inched closer. "Hullo? I'd like to get into the passageway you're hiding, if you please?" But nothing happened. He licked his lips and backed away, staring at the ugly form of the witch from across the hall. He looked down at the chocolate frog card uncertainly. What would James and Sirius do? he wondered to himself. "Dragon Pox," he tried. "Elixir. Potions. Cure. Uhh.. cauldron. Er... Gorsemoor. St. Mungo's. Pineapples. Dissendium." He paused, and narrowed his eyes at the statue, then withdrew his wand and inched closer. "Dissendium?" he tried, though the spell came out more as a question than a command.

The statue twitched.

"Is that it, then?" he asked, excitement and fear fluttering together in his stomach. "Dissendium," he tried again, waving his wand and tapping the old humpback witch right on the nose... and to his very great surprise, the hump in her back trembled and then sank in and revealed a narrow chute.

Peter's heart was practically in his throat. He was so nervous he started into a coughing fit, doubled over before the witch, unable to breathe properly for several moments. "Oh Merlin," he choked, eyes all watery from the fit. "Ohhhh Merlin. I've done it. Me, on my very own, I've done it!" He wasn't sure if he was saying it out of celebration or absolute terror. James and Sirius would never have believed he could, he never would've believed he could. And yet he had.

But now what?

Peter inched closer to the witch and stood on his very tippy-toes to peer down into the chute, his throat thick with nervousness. Should he climb into the chute? Was he brave enough to chance getting in there and finding where it went all on his own? He shivered at the thought of it, and quickly backed away. The witch stared down at him with her one stony eye, the smirk on her face seeming to judge his cowardice. He looked around. What he wouldn't give for James and Sirius, or Remus, or even Lily Evans to come walking 'round the bend and discover him here, to join him in exploring down that passageway. But nobody came.

The hump twitched again, threatening to close, and a rush of nervous adrenaline went through Peter and he made his decision in a snap. "Wait! I'm going through!" and he leaped for the hump, struggling to wedge himself down the narrow gap. He had to suck in all his breath and wriggle, but he managed to pop through the hole and it sealed closed behind him.

"Oh bloody hell what've I done?" he whimpered the moment the darkness engulfed him. "I want to go back." He scrabbled in the dark for a way out and found that all he could feel was smooth walls. It took him several long, panic-filled moments before he recalled that he could make light. "Lumos," he practically begged his wand, and the glow filled the little tunnel. It instantly seemed less scary. He saw only inches above where his fingers had been scratching before there were three little notches in the wall, like steps on a ladder, that led up to the dome of the witch's hump and there, at the very top, was a little lever that must open the door. He calmed immediately, seeing he wasn't stuck in the tunnel.

Knowing there was a way out, he looked about, suddenly more interested in the tunnel itself than in escaping it. Oh how jealous James and Sirius would be if they only knew where he was at this moment! He thought to himself, grinning, and he inched down the little tunnel a ways, holding aloft his lighted wand. He wanted something to tell them about the tunnel, something that would make them really wish they hadn't ditched him. So he walked slowly, fearfully, along, looking this way and that as he moved, careful to watch his every step, to be sure there was ground there for his next one.